Yukihiro Matsumoto

Yukihiro Matsumoto ("Matz"), the creator of Ruby, is a professional
programmer who worked for
the Japanese open source company, netlab.jp. Matz is also known as one of
the open source evangelists in Japan. He's released several open source
products, including cmail, the emacs-based mail user agent, written
entirely in emacs lisp. Ruby is his first piece of software that has
become known outside of Japan.

"An absolute steal at the price; if you've any interest in Ruby you have to buy this book. "
--Andy Hudson, Linux Format

"The Ruby Programming Language is one of the only books on the list to receive a perfect 5/5 stars from Amazon. The O'Reilly resource on Ruby is an excellent guide for those wanting to learn the language from the bottom-up. The text is centered largely around theory and thoroughly explains the API and syntax around the language."
--Glen Stansberry, NETTUTS

"The Ruby Programming Language is my new favorite Ruby book. I personally think it is a better text than the famous "Pickaxe" book...If you want the defacto Ruby book, this is it."
--B. Donovan, Amazon.com

"Really found this to be an excellent guide to the Ruby programming language. This is definitely not just the API rehashed in print...The writing style is like having an expert sit down and explain to you the various facets of the language, how to use them, points that are notable, etc. And all of this content is within a reasonable 400 pages."
--Justin Pease, Amazon.com

"Ruby aficionados have been working for the last few years under a serious handicapt: there was not good, up-to-date reference on their favorite language. Sure, the Pickaxe book provided some guidance, but it's a hybrid work--part tutorial, part reference. And the reference section was a summary, rather than an in-depth exposition. Ever-dependable O'Reilly just released Ruby Programming Language, which is without a doubt the definitive Ruby reference. Not only is it co-authored by Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto, the inventor of Ruby, but it is superbly well edited, so that every page is full of useful information presented clearly. And at more than 400 pages, that's a lot of information. Couple this book with The Ruby Cookbook, which I reviewed on this blog, and you have probably the best 1-2 combination for learning and using Ruby.
"
--Andrew Binstock, Binstock on Software

"For a long time now Dave Thomas Programming Ruby (aka. The Pickaxe) has been the standard in the Ruby community as the book to learn Ruby from. Unfortunately the Pickaxe is not the best programming book ever written. In fact, its bulk and slowness almost killed my inspiration to learn Ruby. I respect Dave Thomas a lot for what he does for the Ruby community but the Pickaxe and I just did not click. Since I didnt find the Pickaxe to be excellent reading material, I had been eagerly anticipating David Flanagans The Ruby Programming Language to come out and unseat The Pickaxe as the de facto book to recommend to newcomers to Ruby. I am happy to say that The Ruby Programming Language did not disappoint. I picked up this book solely expecting to just review it since I already comfortable programming in Ruby. However, once I started reading the book I found myself frequently learning things about Ruby that I didnt know before. Not like little things either like, oh thats interesting. Im talking significant things like holy crap thats sweet!...OReilly is hoping that The Ruby Programming Language becomes the equivalent of K&Rs The C Programming Language for Ruby and I hope it succeeds. I think that every language needs their own K&R book for people to turn to as the definitive authority."
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--Rob Olson, Thinking Digitally

"One long-time Rails developer sent me an email with their first impressions of The Ruby Programming Language: "I have been finding the book very useful, and I'm glad I did get it sooner rather than later." Matz said "Ruby is designed to make programmers happy." It looks like similar design thinking went into this book."
--Brian DeLacey, Slashdot.org

"...a simple, no-nonsense text that will answer just about any question you might have about the Ruby programming language."
--Larry Hannay, Amazon.com